MACC: Bribery by business people rampant

MACC: Bribery by business people rampant
2010/05/06

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) disclosed that giving of bribes by business people to government officers to assist in licensing approval to be "quite rampant".
The revelation was made by MACC deputy Chief Commissioner (Prevention) Datuk Sutinah Sutan. However, she did not provide the statistics.

"We have received complaints from business people about having to give an amount of money to get things done," she said here yesterday.

Sutinah was part of an 11-member delegation from MACC led by its chief, Datuk Abu Kassim Mohamed, at a closed-door meeting with the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (Acccim) leaders. The Acccim delegation was led by its president, Tan Sri William Cheng.

She said most of the business corruption complaints received involved dealings between the local business people and officers of government agencies.

However, she added, MACC had yet to receive corruption complaints involving foreign investors.
She said in the bid to promote Malaysia as a choice destination for investment, the government had improved some of its services, including reducing red tape and providing a one-stop centre to assist investors in setting up businesses here.

"And we will continue combating corruption to ensure that Malaysia provides a clean business environment free from corruption. We want to tell the investors that there is no extra cost involved in doing business here.

"There are instances where people have to pay extra to do business.

"We don't want that to happen, that they have to pay extra other than that stipulated by the rules and regulations."

She pointed out that "bribery in the private sector is also an offence and should be reported".

On a related matter, Sutinah said MACC had also started to close in on bribe-givers.

On the meeting, Sutinah said MACC and Acccim had agreed to set up a special task force soon to create greater awareness within the business community on corrupt practices.

She said besides Acccim, MACC would also work with Hua Zong (Federation of Chinese Associations of Malaysia) on a similar partnership to combat corruption.

Meanwhile, Cheng hoped that such a partnership with MACC would help create better awareness on corruption and its impact on the economy.

"Hopefully, we will hold more of such dialogues with MACC and help it fight corruption and create a better environment to attract foreign investors," he said. -- Bernama